Many PS Vita owners have spent the holidays playing Tearaway, enjoying some of the best gameplay Sony's handheld has to offer. For readers yet to play it, the demo comes highly recommended, as does the full game. Hopefully, the critical success of Media Molecule’s latest serves as a call to action to other PS Vita developers—if the system is going to realize its potential, it needs more games that make use of its unique capabilities. This is not to see more games need be like Tearaway, necessarily—simply that more games should be idiomatic to PS Vita as opposed to other consoles.PS Vita is an extremely powerful system, but it is never going to replace home consoles, nor should it be trying to do so. Though many are looking forward to seeing how Borderlands 2 runs on a portable system, a port of a 2012 console shooter is unlikely to inspire many people to take PS Vita any more or less seriously as a competitor to Nintendo 3DS. Yes, PS Vita is vastly more powerful, but putting a console title on a portable system doesn’t convey anything that the majority of gamers don’t already know.In addition, gamers who want to play console-grade titles on PS Vita can do just that via PlayStation 4’s Remote Play. The connection isn’t ideal outside of the house, but for many genres of games, streaming lag doesn't diminish the experience. Cross-Play and Cross-Buy are wonderful features, as well, but like Remote Play, they push PS Vita away from its identity as an independent console; instead, these features move the system closer to being an expensive accessory for PS4. While it indeed functions well in that role, it's capable of a lot more.Tearaway sends a different message. As one of the year's best games, it declares very competently that PS Vita has unique experiences—things that no one can find on PlayStation 4, and perhaps more importantly, things that no one can find on 3DS. It offers justification for the rear touchpad as more than a substitute for missing shoulder buttons.It should come as no surprise that when many people talk about PS Vita, a system-defining game often mentioned is Gravity Rush, which makes extensive use of both the gyroscope and the touchscreen without sacrificing difficulty or immersion. Making it free via PlayStation Plus was a masterstroke on Sony’s part, giving a sizable percentage of PS Vita owners a game that neatly demonstrates system capabilities that might otherwise be dismissed as casual gimmicks.Games like Rayman Origins (recently free on PlayStation Plus) have more function on PS Vita than they do on home consoles. Changing the camera’s zoom and using the touchscreen to grab distant Lums make the game feel much more at home on the portable system than on PS3. Similarly, Killzone: Mercenary, an FPS game that requires less latency than distant Remote Play allows, has a feature that allows players to use PS Vita’s gyroscope for fine adjustments when aiming down sight. The result is more precise aim than what an analog stick allows for, and the game is much better for it.The announcement of a sequel to Gravity Rush is a good sign that Sony understands the kind of games that PS Vita needs: games that leverage the system's unique hardware to improve the experiences we're familiar with, while also inventing new ones. Sony’s aggressive courting of independent developers also points toward a platform with new experiences. Hopefully, some of the more established studios with greater financial resources follow suit and set out to create titles that proudly bear the PS Vita moniker. We've seen enough ports of games that function in other gaming spaces.

Vita is much better than the 3DS. I bought the Zelda bundle and was quite disappointed with the design of the 3DS and how outdated it is. I mean you cannot even download in the background, really? It is a shame that third party developers don't at least make their games on both devices. The second analog is much superior to. Putting games on it would sell it obviously.

I agree the Vita needs more of its own unique games, console ports have never really been that successful which is a shame because the Vita really should be bigger than it is! Remote play will help but Vita really does need its fair share of good games!

Vita is much better than the 3DS. I bought the Zelda bundle and was quite disappointed with the design of the 3DS and how outdated it is. I mean you cannot even download in the background, really? It is a shame that third party developers don't at least make their games on both devices. The second analog is much superior to. Putting games on it would sell it obviously.

The problem is, 3DS has games and Vita doesn't so it doesn't matter how much better it is.

The problem is, 3DS has games and Vita doesn't so it doesn't matter how much better it is.

It definitely needs more games made for Vita, but there is a huge library of PSP and PSOne games available. I've been playing the Persona games and a couple of PS one games. Older games translate to the Vita very well. Not everyone is going to want to play old games though....I get that.

I agree about the motion sensor providing fine tune aiming in Mercenary's making it a better game, and would love to see it implemented in all console FPS's as well.
It was first done on Uncharted with "Intuaim" and I absolutely love this aiming mechanic and cant stress enough how much I want to see it in console games using the DS4's gyro feature. It would work and feel exactly the same as the vita, and would actually give that 6 axis a good use. Ever since I got used to it in Uncharted I've felt something missing in all FPS's. Sony needs to add this as an option for all games via the UI somehow and allow it's use in any game that has aiming.
Any one else love the "gyro aim" feature? And want to see it in console games as well?

TearAway is a great kids game, but for an adult its little more than a warm fuzzy feeling with little challenge.What the Vita really needs is arcade games, games like Killzone: Liberation and MotorStorm RC. Games suited to pick up and play where you always know whats going on.

$#@! that. Tearaway and friends are good, and I wouldn't have it any other way, but Sly Cooper Thieves in Time, Jak and Daxter, the MGS HD collection, Sony $#@!ing Smash Brothers, and hopefully FFXII after FFX HD are all the bomb mother $#@!ing diggity. Keep'em coming alongside new IPs. And hey: If Vita DID become solely a port console, then god damn, make the ports worth it. Imagine Viewtiful Joe, Kingdom Hearts, Okami, Shadow of the Colossus, the .hack games (it's in the talks), Ratchet and Clank---all in the palm of your hand. Holy $#@!; that would be awesome. Though I love Tearaway, Soul Sacrifice, and Mercenary, too.

I agree about the motion sensor providing fine tune aiming in Mercenary's making it a better game, and would love to see it implemented in all console FPS's as well.
It was first done on Uncharted with "Intuaim" and I absolutely love this aiming mechanic and cant stress enough how much I want to see it in console games using the DS4's gyro feature. It would work and feel exactly the same as the vita, and would actually give that 6 axis a good use. Ever since I got used to it in Uncharted I've felt something missing in all FPS's. Sony needs to add this as an option for all games via the UI somehow and allow it's use in any game that has aiming.
Any one else love the "gyro aim" feature? And want to see it in console games as well?

Huge fan of the gyro aim. Pc guys with keyboard and mouse would fear me.

@Chris yeah that's why I love backwards compatibility in my consoles, when there's hardly any new releases you can just go back to previous games.

Never thought I'd miss backward compatibility, tbh. But these Vita games have given me the itch so i yanked out my PS2. Got PS2, PS3, and PS4 all hooked up to the same TV. lol.....but yeah, would be nice if one console played every games from every gen. sigh....those days are gone I'm afraid.

All i just want is AAA games,games the same as either PS3 or PS4 (VITA can do it we know!),more FPS/TPS games and of course horror games,PS VITA is missing that kind of style and everyone feels that lack...

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